Chapter 6
Clock Tower Courtyard, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 1992
"You promised that last year too!" Jovvian complained, unable to find in himself the will to believe the words his friend was saying.
"You said it yourself, 'last year'," the girl replied, trying to appease him. "A lot of things can happen in a year."
"Our Lumini has finally become a good girl," Riley came to her support, putting his arm around the girl's shoulders.
"And it only took her fourteen years," the boy snorted, rolling his eyes at the public display of affection.
The first day of their fourth year at Hogwarts was accompanied by Lumini's annual promise not to play along with the Weasleys' twisted games. But of course, Jovvian knew better than to trust any of them, more than so after all the things he had been put through the previous year.
He could highlight as his worst moments the walks through the forbidden forest in search of weird insects, the visits to the stupid prank place in Hogsmeade, various attempts to have the opposing side exposed in front of the teachers, the jokes he received just for being part of Lumini's group, the punishments he got for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, all the points his house had lost. Oh, the damn points.
His friends were convinced Jovvian would never shut up about that if it weren't for all the pranking, Slytherin might have won the house cup again.
Even so, both Lumini and Riley knew that their friend didn't deserve all that. The jokes were always from them two, towards the two on the opposite side, and yet the people close to them always got harmed in some way.
That had ended up causing a division in their little group, with Lumini and Riley trying to stop giving Jovvian a hard time and, whenever they were feeling a plan starting to cook, made a point to be just the two of them involved.
And perhaps it was all that alone time that had caused that closeness that Jovvian was so hard trying to ignore.
"It's so weird for me to see you act like this," he shuddered, looking away from his friends.
"We're sorry if any of this is making you feel left out," the girl said, scrolling away from the blond. "And if it makes you uncomfortable, I'm sure we can..."
"It doesn't bother me that you decided to be a couple, you are my best friends and I wish you nothing but the best," Jovvian spoke, worried about appearing jealous of their happiness. "I just think it's kind of… unusual. You always seemed to share the same brain, with the jokes and everything…
"That's exactly how we realized it!" Riley laughed, giving his girlfriend a knowing look. "We started to think that all the time we were spending on a dumb prank for the Weasleys was just for that, to spend time together.
"The whole prank thing was just a cry for attention" Lumini concluded, smiling as she remembered the moment everything made sense.
"And that's why we can assure you this year will be problem free".
**
Likewise, in the Gryffindor common room, the Weasley twins were also carrying on an in-depth self-discovery conversation.
"...And I heard that they have been dating since the holidays".
"You know what? I was thinking about letting our war fall down anyway," his twin said, raising his shoulders with total disinterest.
"Maybe it's for the better, we need to be a good example for Ginny anyway.
"Of course".
"Clear as water".
"Absolutely".
They shared determined glances as they nodded at each other, respecting the way the other had matured.
"Do you remember the spell we found in Flitwick's book?" George asked, after a few seconds of silence.
"The one that could make a person change the color of their skin?" Fred guessed, smiling at the thought. "Which, by the way, we could never test".
"Such a pity…"
"A real waste…"
Fred let out a laugh out of nowhere, making his twin turn to look at him confused.
"Don't you think Lumini would look beautiful in orange?"
The boys shared another look for another few seconds, in complete silence, evaluating what was going through the other mind. And finally, they both sighed as they stood up at the same time.
"I hid the page between my robes," George said, as he headed towards the exit to look for their third on crime.
"Jordan said he was going to the Quidditch field," Fred said, going up the stairs to get the page.
**
Twenty minutes later, with his friends still in the courtyard, Jovvian had decided that his free time had been too long and headed off to ask the teachers for assignments for extra points, leaving the newly formed couple alone.
Little did they know that, while they were chatting excitingly about their time apart in the holidays, three Gryffindors were watching them from the safety hiding of the back of a tree.
"I'll go for Lumini, you for Riley. Lee, make sure no one comes."
The twins were pretty organized at casting the spell and returning to their hiding place in milliseconds, remaining still while waiting for a reaction.
"Weasleys!"
Lumini's screaming voice was unmistakable to the boys, already used to being accused.
A few minutes away, Jovvian had been walking calmly through the corridors, thinking about his own business, until his ears caught a countless amount of curses and words that no one should be allowed to repeat.
He was about to turn around to give a dirty look to whoever had such a trashy mouth when he noticed his best friend passing by his side, still repeating endless insults to everything she saw, followed by his other best friend trying to calm her down and cover her mouth with his hand.
At that moment, Jovvian was very certain that this year wouldn't be the one where Lumini would fulfill her promise either.
**
However, as the days passed, the orange color on Lumini's skin and the pink on Riley's had mostly disappeared, and nothing seemed to give any indication that revenge was approaching.
Jovvian knew something was wrong, even more so when, in their classes with Gryffindor, those two took every chance to make a comment on the color orange very effusively.
It was in potions class when he saw Lumini lose her patience, after a very specific comment from one of her twins.
"How is it possible that they can be such cun...?" Luckily the girl's speech had been cut off by a forced cough from Riley, who was getting very good at clearing his throat every time Lumini got angry.
The three friends were sitting at the same table, reading their potions books, making an attempt to revise for the oral exam Snape had randomly decided to take.
"I can't believe they still haven't let it go," Lumini complained, frowning.
"They're just waiting for you to react." Riley rolled his eyes, tired of the redheads' childish behavior and partly of her girlfriend's wish to amuse them even more.
"I'm sure Jovvian wouldn't mind if…"
"Jovvian would mind!
The named boy observed the small battle of glances that the couple had in front of him, confused without the full context.
"It would only be something small" the girl tried to argue.
"You don't know what small is," the blond accused.
"I mean, you're my boyfriend…" Lumini laughed at how dramatically offended the boy reacted, bringing a smile to their friend, who seemed to be the only one reading his book.
"Anyway, what do I have to do with it?" Jovvian questioned, briefly looking away from the words.
"We made a promise, didn't we?"
Jovvian seemed at a complete loss at those words, opening and closing his mouth, surprised and at the same time really touched.
"Did you seriously let them make fun of you all this time just for that?"
The couple looked at each other, puzzled by their friend's tone, before nodding slowly.
"Weasley, George!" a voice came from across the classroom and the redhead stood up from his seat, ready to answer whatever the teacher was to ask.
Jovvian had never understood what his friend meant when she talked about the perfect plan appearing at the perfect time in the perfect place, but when he saw how nervous the Gryffindor was, everything seemed to make sense.
And he was eternally grateful that he had practiced his non-verbal magic when his little prank paid off, as a dead silence was heard in the middle of the boy's answer.
"Is that all you can mutter?" the teacher questioned raising an eyebrow, but the boy did not answer.
The whole class saw him frown and move almost frantically, curious about his odd behavior but partly thinking that it was just one of his attempts to be the class clown.
"Is this a joke to you, Mr. Weasley?"
The redhead took it upon himself to shake his head quickly, while he directed his gaze towards the class, meeting Lumini's amused gaze. It didn't take him long to start pointing at her, frowning even more.
"You're delusional, Weasley," the girl replied, uninterested in the accusation.
However, Snape would not let his class be a scenario of their 'who was stupider' contest.
"I'm sick and tired of all of you," he growled, walking towards the table of the three Slytherins. "You behave like a bunch of mindless chimpanzees."
"We didn't even do anything" the other twin defended themself.
"Neither did we" Riley raised his shoulders, completely separating himself from the accusation.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin," Snape slurred his words. "And you will undo that spell before there are fifty."
"How am I supposed to know how to undo something that…?"
But Lumini had to keep silent in the middle of her complaint when she saw Jovvian pull out his wand and then point it at the twin who, as soon as his lips were parted, took a big, dramatic breath of air.
"...I just learned how to do and didn't have time to learn the counterspell," she hurried to correct what she was saying, putting on her best guilty face.
"The five are grounded after dinner, for three weeks."
In unison, six complaints were heard.
"They were the ones who put a curse on me!" said the redhead.
"We all know they did something!" Lumini accused, emphasizing with his hands pointed at them. "Either they did it, or they will do it!"
"That's not a valid excuse!"
"Except it is," Snape granted, making the redheads' complaints louder.
"What five were you referring to?" Riley asked, over their voices.
Both Lee and Jovvian felt their breathing stop for a few seconds, waiting for the answer that would or not condemn them.
"Jordan," the older man answered, sighing heavily.
"That is not fair!"
And the complaints continued for several minutes until the professor decided that the oral exams had been enough for the day.
Only when all of them were out of the classroom, Jovvian turned to his friends with teary eyes.
"I'm so sorry," his voice sounded weak as he begged the other two for forgiveness.
"Calm down, man," the boy laughed.
"I'm sorry I didn't teach you better pranks" Lumini made the three of them smile as they walked away from the dungeons. "But for your first time, it wasn't that bad"
"But I can't allow it" Jovvian stopped in his tracks, frowning as he turned again towards the classroom and finding himself face-to-face with the twins and their group. "I'm honestly sorry," he said to them, before walking away from the redheads and steadily towards the teacher.
"Vvi, what are you doing?" Riley asked, trying to stop his friend.
"I have to demand a punishment!" he exclaimed, before leaving completely.
As the Gryffindor group passed by the couple, Lumini took it upon herself to stop one of the twins.
"Listen to me, weasel," her finger planted on the boy's chest, while she gave him a stern look. "I don't fucking care what stupid joke you try to return for this, but don't you dare touch him," he pointed in the direction of her just-left friend.
"And don't you dare touch him," a Gryffindor girl said, removing the finger that Lumini was pointing at the twin, then taking his arm and walking away from her at a fast pace.
**
The time until dinner became endless for those five people, who just wanted the time to pass faster to end their weeks of punishment as soon as possible.
When everyone was at the door of Snape's office, he came out and began walking, forcing them to follow him. His walk to the library ended with him meeting Professor McGonagall.
"Young Jovvian..." the woman murmured, in a tired tone.
"We both told him that your presence is not requested here," Snape sighed, apparently not in the mood to fight the insistent student.
"Please, I only have two friends in the castle," the boy complained.
"Just make sure you don't use magic," McGonagall said, opening the doors to let everyone take a look at the books scattered throughout the room. "Good luck, students."
And with those words, the six of them were forced inside to take a closer look at the whole mess.
"Fucking Peeves," Lumini said.
"I can't believe we have to do this because of him," one of the redheads complained, sighing loudly as he headed to the nearest bookshelf.
"Oh, damn, we were so happy to be able to spend some time with you," Riley said ironically, doing the same.
"I swear this could be fun," Jovvian said, following his friend. "I have a whole system!"
Lumini decided that she would not stand spending the whole night listening to the boy talk about the correct way to arrange books, so her feet directed her directly to the opposite side.
She imagined that several minutes had already passed when she heard footsteps heading towards where she was. She didn't bother to turn around, that person only dedicated themself to arranging the books on the shelf behind her.
However, as soon as that person cleared their throat, she knew who it was and knew he would try to talk to her again.
Lumini knew very well what that Weasley did before he tried to have a conversation with her, just to end up embarrassed himself.
"I think Jovvian should have been more discrete with his prank" he spoke almost in a whisper.
"Jovvian is a good boy, he didn't mean to cause harm and he regrets what he did".
"It's kind of funny how you talk about him as if he was a child, I mean, he is so big and you are so... small". It was pretty audible in his voice how he was regretting every word while saying them. "Not that I meant…
"Weasley, it doesn't matter anymore," she cut him off, turning to look at him. "If you can't say it the first time, maybe you shouldn't mention it at all." The boy seemed to nod, understanding the logic of that concept. "And it's time for all of us to take a step back and put these childish things behind".
"If you mean the pranks, as soon as we can return the sealed lips thing, we will be at peace".
"No, you don't understand, I need all of this to end now," the girl demanded, forcing the redhead to face her. "Jovvian is going to help the teachers for extra points, Riley has to improve his grades, and now I have a boyfriend to waste my time with".
"You and Riley make a bad couple" Before he could understand what he was saying, the words had already left his mouth.
"You are in no position to judge anything".
"No, of course, I'm just saying it's… odd," he shrugged, as his voice became increasingly high-pitched.
"Does my relationship seem odd to you?" Lumini let out a laugh, not at all funny nor innocent. "The only odd thing here is how your mother managed to divide the brain of a baby to form two".
"I did not mean..."
"What's quite odd too, by the way, is you and your copy's codependency that smells too suspiciously like you spend way more time together than healthier" The girl walked away from those shelves, trying to get away from the Weasley as well.
"You know I didn't mean..." the redhead was willing to follow her, even if she continued to cut off his words.
"But what seems the oddest to me is that you and your stupid rag doll hair don't dedicate more of your time to working as scarecrows. You should seriously think about it, you would put your foolish appearance to good use and get a couple of sickles for your broke family, who seem to keep getting new offspring every year."
"You know what? It's a shame that you aren't in need of money, because you could get thousands of jobs with your flatness. Do you need a table, an ironing board, a desk? No problem, just use your own chest."
There seemed to be no way for Fred Weasley to start realizing what he was saying before it came out of his mouth. It was only seconds after he had finished his speech, when he felt a strong burning on his right cheek, that he managed to regret everything he said.
"Fuck you."
With those words, the redhead knew that the best idea was not to keep trying to get a conversation.
And after finally having succeeded at walking away, the girl managed, with her gaze on the floor, to reach towards where Riley was calmly humming a song from his favorite band.
The boy only became aware of her presence when she passed by him quickly, hugging herself with her own arms and pressing her lips tightly together. He watched as she sat at a desk in the back of the library and didn't hesitate to follow her.
"And who gave you permission to take a break?" He joked, hitting her gently on the head to make her raise it. However, her watery eyes and the grimace on her face took away his smile in less than a second. "Who gave any of those idiots permission to make you feel that way?” His voice sounded much more serious as he pulled the girl's seemingly fragile figure towards him.
"Do you think I'm pretty?"
Those words caused his grip to loosen slightly, only to stare at her in confusion.
"You're beautiful," he responded, with no hesitation.
"But, I mean..., do you think I'm... like... hot?"
Those words in the mouth of his current girlfriend made his head explode in a few seconds, however, he was able to hide it quite a bit.
"You're perfect," he assured her, taking her hands and leaving a kiss on them. "I'm sorry for the sorry loser who thinks otherwise, but it shouldn't even matter to you, because I will always be with you and I will always think this way."
She let the boy melt her into a hug again, deciding to forget the motivation for those questions.
True to be told, Lumini had to know that Riley would always be there for her, that much was obvious. Ultimately, he was her best friend.
All the times she felt sad, all the times she was angry or happy, Riley had always been there. And that was fine, she liked that idea. At least the very first few months.
But six months had passed, and her legs were intertwined with the boy's while they sat next to each other and did their homework together in the common room.
Lumini's legs were numb and her brain hurt from reading her notes so much. And so she found herself staring at Riley for several seconds, unsure of saying what she had been thinking, but there was no one besides them in the room and she had made a promise to always take advantage of the right opportunity at the right time.
“It's weird, you know?” Her lips didn't even seem to move as she spoke so quietly, but she managed to catch the boy's attention enough for him to look at her. “You're my… friend.”
"I'm more than that, in fact," the blond commented, laughing lightly.
"But… are you?"
They both seemed to move in slow motion as they put aside the quills they were writing with.
"I'm sure I asked you almost seven months ago," the boy assured, without losing his smile. "And you pretty much authorize it."
"I mean..." Lumini thought about it for a while, about what the hell was she even referring to. "We hold hands, we hug and kiss, we spend hours cuddling each other but… it's not as if it is… something" The girl's worst fear, watching her friend lose his smile, was slowly becoming a reality right in front of her. "Do you feel…?"
"We've been dating for half a year, Lumini," he said, concern in his voice while he sat straight to look at her better. "Of course 'I feel', don't you?!"
"I'm just saying that…" She had to take a deep breath to think clearly. "It's not like doing these things with you feels any different than doing them with Jovvian, for example."
"Are you saying you like Jovvian?" The boy stood up abruptly, turning his back on the girl while he grabbed his hair.
"No, of course not. Jovvian is just a friend" she was quick to correct herself. "Doing things with him feels friendly, just like when I do things with you."
Riley turned to face the girl, who was already approaching him.
"So what was all that about us both trying to get each other's attention with the pranks?" He asked, letting out an incredulous laugh. "You were trying to get my attention, like what, as a friend? For Merlin's sake, did you ever even stop to think about it?!"
"Maybe it wasn't your attention I was trying to get!"
That statement only made them both completely stunned, not knowing how to react.
"What are you talking about?!" the boy complained, exasperated by the situation.
"Maybe I wasn't even trying to get attention at all," she shrugged, lowering her head as a grimace took over her face.
Silence was the only thing that filled the room, while both of them reviewed that conversation a thousand times in their minds.
"If this is one of your stupid jokes…"
"It's not a joke, Riley," she sighed while closing her eyes as if expecting a punch. "I don't think we…"
However, more words weren't necessary, the blond had heard everything that seemed relevant to him and was rushing to pick up his things, with a frown on his face and his pulse ringing in his ears.
"We can still be friends."
But Riley was already far enough up the stairs to the boy's rooms, and he cared very little about what she had to say.